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- Author or Editor: Donn R. Ward x
- HortTechnology x
Between 2000 and 2004, a 12-state consortium in the southeastern United States used a “train-the-trainer” effort to introduce good agricultural practices (GAPs) to the region's fresh produce growers, packers, and consumers. Supported by the National Food Safety Initiative, the consortium created and implemented training by using a program and supporting materials specifically applicable to conditions and commodities in southern states. Because several factors distinguish the southeastern U.S. fresh produce industry from that of other regions in the U.S., a region-specific training program addressing distinguishing factors was needed. Distinguishing factors include: 1) southeastern U.S. producers are typically grower-packers, with some notable exceptions in Florida and Texas; 2) most such producer entities are seasonal, have their own packinghouse operation, are small-scale in that they pick what they grow and pack and often use migrant and seasonal labor; 3) modern worker training, sanitary practice, and facilities and supervisory expertise are either somewhat limited or completely lacking; and 4) the use of seasonal and migrant labor dictates the use of Spanish language interpreters and training. To meet fresh produce food safety training needs for the region, project leaders created a 329-page training program and associated PowerPoint presentation-containing compact disc, nine four-page crop-specific brochures relating GAPs to crop “groups,” a Spanish language handwashing video and a new model recall program for the fresh produce industry. The leveraging effect of this train-the-trainer effort ultimately reached nearly 20,000 people in this multi-disciplinary, multi-state, integrated project, thus expanding and reinforcing regional cooperative extension efforts.
This paper summarizes the management framework, organizing plan, and results of a multi-state, multi-institutional partnership delivering a targeted “train-the-trainer” program addressing food chain security in the southeastern U.S. The partnership provided good agricultural practices (GAPs) and good manufacturing practices (GMPs) –based training to fresh fruit and vegetable (produce) growers and packers throughout the region. Twelve southern states cooperated in this project: Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia. This 2000–04 work was funded by National Food Safety Initiative grants. Although proposed long before events of 11 Sept. 2001, the project and its results are increasingly relevant since that time. This is because consumer expectations regarding the nation's food supply now include a new security consciousness addressed in this project.